Meanwhile, Amanuddin Quraishi, Imam-Sahib district chief, said 10 guerrillas were killed in separate operations in Kunduz. Some weapons were seized from the rebels and three bodies are lying at the site.

Two ANA soldiers also lost their lives in a roadside bombing, he added. Since the beginning of the operations, over 100 Taliban fighters have been killed and wounded and 40 villages cleared.

But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed 12 security personnel had been killed and four more wounded.

He also claimed the group had shot down a helicopter in Nangarhar, an assertion rejected as baseless by provincial officials.